A family in Alabama, made up of eight people who ran a tax return
identity theft fraud ring, recently pleaded guilty to a large number of charges related to their crimes.
Earlier this year, the eight people were hit with a 33-charge indictment, mostly related to the filing of fraudulent tax returns through a company owned by one of the defendants, the according to a report from the
U.S. Department of Justice. Others involved in the ring stole consumers' identities, and recruited people to have bogus returns deposited into their bank account. In all, they filed more than 700 such documents with the IRS between January 2006 and April 2012, ripping off $1.3 million.
"The Tax Division is committed to prosecuting those who steal the personal identities of American taxpayers to commit tax refund fraud," said assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Tax Division Kathryn Keneally. "We continue to work closely with the IRS to protect the public from these criminals."
Adam Levin, chairman for IDentity Theft 911, has a blog about the fraud dangers consumers face from this type of crime.
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